Innovate for Policy Impact | Creative Thinking

This lesson by Dr. Lisa Lonati on Creative Thinking competence for EIMP introduces young researchers to creativity as a core competence for engaging effectively with policy processes, rather than as an abstract or artistic ability. The lesson frames creative thinking as a mindset grounded in curiosity, openness, and exploration, encouraging researchers to approach policy challenges with a “tell me more” and “what if” attitude. Learners are guided to understand why creative thinking is essential in EU policymaking contexts, where scientific evidence must compete with multiple inputs and be adapted to complex, cross-sectoral policy needs across the policy cycle. The lesson then focuses on the practical skills and knowledge underpinning creative thinking in science-for-policy work. Participants learn to distinguish clearly between ideas and solutions, to practice divergent thinking before evaluation, and to consciously shift between creative, generative and evaluative, pragmatic mindsets. Through policy-relevant examples, the lesson shows how researchers can generate multiple ways of framing and transferring their evidence to support legislation, policy design, consultations, or evaluations, in line with European Commission practices. Finally, the lesson sets out progressive learning objectives from foundational to expert levels. By the end of the lesson, learners are expected to recognise and seize new ideas, seek diverse perspectives from inside and outside the policy and public sector, and test promising ideas through prototyping or scenario exploration. At more advanced levels, the lesson prepares researchers to combine competences across domains, transfer ideas between very different contexts, and contribute to collective creativity through co-creation and participatory processes, strengthening their ability to make research evidence accessible, relevant, and impactful for policymaking.